Marvel May - Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

         Hey guys, Chuck here. Well, as Marvel May continues, we're at the halfway point of Marvel's Phase Three, with the third chapter of the Thor series: Thor: Ragnarok. With yet another new director at the helm, Taika Waititi, this third movie does away with trying to make a fantasy epic and just goes all-out with some cosmic fun. Heck, the movie features Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" at least twice during the movie. So, let's dive right into Thor: Ragnarok.

       The movie opens with Thor, wrapped up in a chain and dangling from the top of a cavernous lair that is home to Surtur the Fire Demon. Thor defeats Surtur and takes his crown back with him to Asgard, where he's greeted by the new guardian of the Bifrost: Skurge. Thor then goes to see his father, Odin, whose watching a play recapping the plot of Thor: The Dark World, with Asgardians stage actors portraying Thor, Loki, and Odin. However, the Odin he meets is actually Loki in disguise, who takes Thor to Earth to where he left the real Odin. After Thor gets a selfie with some teenage girls, Loki is portaled away, and Thor is left with an address card, which leads him to the New York Sanctum, current home of Doctor Stephen Strange. Strange, after confirming that Thor and Loki will return to Asgard once they find Odin, tells Thor that Odin is in a glen on the coast of Norway. Strange then opens a portal to Norway, returns Loki, and sends the two brothers on their way. Odin, who is dying, warns Thor and Loki that when he's gone, his first born daughter, Hela, will return from the dimension that she was banished to. As Odin fades away, Hela arrives, taunts Thor, and destroys his hammer Mjolnir. Thor and Loki are teleported away, but Hela pursues them, and the two brothers end up on the junk-filled planet Sakaar. 

       On Sakaar, Thor is captured by a Scrapper, and taken to the citadel, which is home to the Grandmaster, who forces Thor to fight in a gladiatorial pit against the reigning champion. Said champion, to Thor's delight and Loki's dismay, is the Hulk. Thor tries to use a lullaby on the Hulk, but to no avail, and loses the fight against the Hulk, who keeps Thor around for amusement. The Scrapper we met earlier, it turns out, is an Asgardian. Specifically, she is the last of the Valkyries, who were an elite group of Asgardian warrior women. So, after Hulk reverts to being Bruce Banner once again, thanks to a recorded message on the Quinjet left by Natasha, Thor, Bruce, Loki, and Valkyrie, along with Thor's new friends Korg and Miek, escape from Sakaar and head to Asgard to stop Hela, and giving Valkyrie the chance to avenge her fallen sister Valkyries, who died fighting to keep Hela from escaping her confinement.

       Hela, meanwhile, kills the Warriors Three, and takes over Asgard, naming Skurge as her Executioner. When Thor and the others arrive, a massive battle ensues, with Korg, Miek, Heimdall, and Loki helping the civilians of Asgard board a transport ship to safety, and Thor, Hulk, and Valkyrie fight Hela's army of the undead, while Thor puts Surtur's crown into the eternal flames, restoring him and allowing him to destroy Asgard. The reason Thor did this was because he realized that he wasn't supposed to stop Ragnarok, but to cause Ragnarok, because as long as the people lived, Asgard would live on. 

         So, Ragnarok happens, Hela is defeated, and Thor, Loki, Heimdall, Valkyrie, and Hulk head off to find the Asgardians a new home, only to be intercepted by a massive ship, ending on a cliffhanger that we'll see the resolution of in Avengers: Infinity War.

         The new players in the cast of this movie were terrific. First off, I really enjoyed Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie, and I laughed my ass off watching Karl Urban as Skurge. The biggest highlights, however, are Cate Blanchett as Hela and Jeff Goldblum as the Grandmaster. Both are excellent, with Blanchett giving one of my favorite performances of her career. I also liked seeing the likes of Luke Hemsworth, Matt Damon, and Sam Neill as the Asgardian stage actors in the movie, and I laughed when I realized that the stage version of Loki was Jason Bourne himself: Matt Damon. 

      The returning cast of Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Idris Elba as Heimdall, Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk, Anthony Hopkins as Odin, and Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange are all terrific here. The visual effects are stunning, and the humor is exactly what this series needed. Directors Kenneth Branagh and Alan Taylor, while making decent enough films with the first two Thor's, both felt lacking in making them fun and memorable. Taika Waititi, however, adds just the right amount of sci-fi fun to this movie to make it the best of the Thor films. Unfortunately, one major criticism I have, as a fan of the comics, was making Hela Odin's first born daughter. This was not the case in the comics, as during the 2014 "Original Sin" arc, we learn that Angela, who was introduced into Marvel Comics a few months prior at the end of the "Age of Ultron" arc, was Odin's first born child. Hela was not related to Odin at all. Now, I understand needing to make Thor's battle with Hela more personal, but where will this leave any potential introductions for Angela into the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Just curious. 

       Even with my minor gripe, I loved Thor: Ragnarok quite a bit, and I give it a 4.75/5. Now, two major Thor characters that sat out of the movie Thor: Ragnarok are both set to return in the upcoming sequel Thor: Love & Thunder. Those characters are Jaimie Alexander as Sif and Natalie Portman as Jane Foster. Taika Waititi is returning to direct, and the new villain will be Christian Bale as Gorr the God Butcher, making this the second time a former Batman has joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Tom Hiddleston will be returning to Marvel next month in the new Disney+ series Loki, which I'm definitely excited for. Anyway, this is Chuck signing off, and I'll see you guys in a couple days when we continue Marvel May with Black Panther.